And, kids we know who got impressive internships in HS or research usually got these opportunities through their parents’ connections. Now, one kid we know taught himself I don’t know how many coding languages and became friends with a genius CS guy who introduced him at a local startup where he ended up working and he’s headed to Stanford. Most self-motivated kid I know. But, he’s unusual.
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Thank you. I acknowledge it HAS been work to do so and I fully appreciate it, mindful every family & individual has their own priorities.
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@homerdog My daughter’s main EC has been ballet (about 20 -25 hours a week pre Covid, now not as much as no performances)… she managed to fit in a few other ECs while maintaining a very high level of course rigor (13 APs) and straight As at a very competitive public HS. I am really hoping the AOs recognize the time management that is required for ballet! So far she was admitted to GaTech OOS and JHU, so she has had some success in the admission process.
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Got my gas bill (I have a gas furnace), was very curious to see how much it increased from the Texas Arctic storm. 15 bucks higher than the previous month. Foam insulation is really paying for itself.
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It probably helps that JHU has a strong dance program and they can see she could be one of their dancers. (I don’t know much about GaT).
We made sports a focus not because my kids were going to be recruited athletes, they’re not, but besides the usual concepts of commitment, working with a team for a goal, resilience, learning to win with humility and lose with grace, etc. I wanted them to learn that exercise and strength training are necessary for a long, happy and healthy life.
To quote Elle Woods from the movie Legally Blonde, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t."
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And mainly the Hollywood is attracting my D on top of all these advantages! Even I would want to be there!
Can I ask where your son goes to vet school? I’m a high school junior, and I’m hoping to be there in a couple of years, but I’m still doing my research because I’d like to avoid as much debt as possible.
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Dancers can get good offers if they are planning to dance for the college dance teams as well. There are many dancers who may not want to major in dance but can continue through the college team. This is not the place for true ballerinas, however may be a good match for those who love to dance. Although they usually focus on Hip hop for their basketball/football routines, most of the college teams compete in other genres.
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@homerdog It is interesting that JHU didn’t have an optional dance portfolio for her to submit (she did submit it to a number of other colleges). GaTech has some dance opportunities but definitely not ballet. I wonder if it was much of a factor in her admission there.
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Same here. I had my son choose an individual sport and a team sport. His passion is music but getting back with his XC team this past fall was very anchoring for him.
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Money.
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The dance application to JHU is totally separate from the main campus application. In fact, they will not even release acceptances until 1 April. Plus, they have lower gpa & SAT/ACT requirements precisely because many (not all) almost professional & very creative & talented kids don’t have the same stats as main campus JHU. In sum the dance faculty would not know her student existed unless she applied dual degree & still those decisions are separate & it’s possible to get into one program & not the other.
Thus I really think that admissions saw that OP’s child dug deep in one main passion & saw that as a plus over having many activities that can read as mere resume builders. Many schools actually like fewer activities - less chance that it is manufactured by the parent or paid consultant. Of course, there is no one formula to getting in.
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Agreed. And a talented dancer that can get into an audition-based program and has great stats will have lots of merit opportunities at a range of colleges if applying for dance, precisely because the typical stats are lower. D18 got way better merit offers than her twin brother (who had identical stats, more typical ECs like class president, sports team captain, academic awards, etc.) for that reason.
Put another way, it’s a bigger boost to use great academics with a dance application, than dance ECs with a great academic application.
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@NateandAllisMom My son swam competitively so it was 12 hours a week and that doesn’t take into account swim meets and commute to the pool. That’s easily 18 hours/week without a meet and about 24 hours with meets (and not counting meets mid week when high school is in session). What he had to do was balance it out. We all knew he wasn’t going to pursue swimming in college for what he aspires. We’ve seen friends’ kids in D1 swim in college and also football who were great but not good enough to go professional and their grades suffered. So in weeks where S21 had school club meetings, he would skip a swim practice. Sunday’s he wasn’t going to do meets those days if they interfered with his hospital volunteering. I was worried about school his junior year because he had 5AP classes but it was doable. We said school first, then clubs he supports, and swim became the lower priority. It meant missing a couple of comp meet days and a practice here and there but it was do-able. You just can’t approach the sports like you’re going to get recruited. That’s so rare in general but it’s still up to the kids and family to make the call.
This has always been my kids’ life where they have sports and school. I think that’s helped because they’re just forced to prioritize their time. I traveled often for work so that also meant juggling carpool (where they have to keep up with the schedule) and then coming home and heating up or cooking what mom left at home before business trips.
We threw a lot at the kids on top of things they were passionate about but I think our kids having the capacity to want to do many things has helped them manage their schedule. The downside of this was they were seriously bored when the sports and ECs were taken away. Timing wise, that helped because by Sept, the essays took up past time. We used The College Essay Guy a ton. Having good essays helped us a lot, I feel. I think left to his own accord, my son would’ve just checked the box and mailed it in. However, this was the one process where I put my foot down and got really engaged and drove him mad where I’d read each sentence and then pushed him to answer why that sentence was relevant or how on earth would an AO get any insights from what he wrote. Not fun and I am sure he was super aggravated by me (he ditched me and went to my cousin for review) but it paid off.
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That’s awesome. My husband would never let my son miss a football practice let alone a game so a little different here. S plays tennis too but the time required is much more reasonable. Kudos to your family for making all that work! Anyway let me go on record again that sports have awesome benefits for kids! 
I do feel time and thought invested in the essay is well spent.
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Different strokes for different folks. I still have never seen the essays from D19, S19 or D21. Not even their teachers reviewed the essays. The kids did everything essay- and application-related completely on their own, quite successfully, I’d say. (Emory, Hamilton, WSU engineering)
D19 was state-championship level in XC and track, S19 in XC and soccer, and D21 has worked 20-30 hours per week for a year and a half. Add me in as a single adoptive mom on top of it all. I’m exceptionally proud of them. They are amazing.
/brag 
ETA - I was willing and eager to help, but they are very independent individuals.
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My son is a XC/TF athlete and he is almost certain he doesn’t want to be on a team in college, since he wants to explore other interests. Here XC/TF is his PE class always last class of the day. Practices do go over another hr, but it leaves time for work and other clubs after school. Football is another story since their workouts and practices take hrs.
I was so relieved that our gas & water bills were on par or just a few bucks higher than normal!!! Our city waived all water usage charges for that week (dripping/streaming faucets for one week straight!!).
Also, I am pleased to hear that Lubbock is NOT on Ercot lol!!! 
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That is terrific if a student can miss practice here and there. Neither of our kids really had that luxury. Hard core coaches and lots of rules around missing practices. They just didn’t do it unless they were sick enough to stay home from school! Kids in three season sports at our high school can’t really do much else at the high school, certainly not anything like band or debate or science Olympiad. Those all interfere with sports practices and coaches are not supportive of that. At one point, S wanted to take art class Friday afternoons and his coach said something like art is great but you can’t run on my team and go to that class. I did meet with the principal to complain but got nowhere and, even if we succeeded in that plea, he would have been on the bad side of that coach and it would have been awful.
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